Should Launch Buyers Of The Callisto Protocol Get Free DLC

With the less than expected sales for the game, mixed reviews, and drop in price so close to release; a new Opinion Piece asks if the publisher should make a good faith gesture by offering the DLC for free in lieu of refunds of price adjustments for those who purchased the game at or close to launch for full price.

[z2g]

only if it was promised to us beforehand... and it wasn't. i mean buying a new game is a decision you make as a consumer and until the game comes out, you don't really know what to expect. if you want to be responsible and wait for the reviews to come out then you can certainly do that. it could save you from buying a game that rated poorly. therefore its on you to make the purchasing decisions you make and i don't think a studio should owe you anything if the game didn't sell as well or review as high as they wanted. of course every studio wants all of their games to be amazing and of course they are going to hype them up. but thats not an excuse to make bad purchasing decisions or feel owed something.

[Garethvk]

I do think there is an implied trust that a new game will not see a dramatic price reduction mere weeks after release especially when there is no option like most consumer products to return it for a refund or ask for a price adjustment.

[Dirtnapstor]

Agreed. I'm enjoying the game. It'd be awesome if they offered up the DLC for free, but we are owed nothing. Preordering or purchasing games prior to you doing your homework... it's a crapshoot in some cases.
I honestly expected more of a fleshed out experience considering who the Dev is, but generally speaking, it is a solid game.

[HeliosHex]

@z2g. Dam epic response. Agree 100%

[Tacoboto]

They already attached death animations to the Season Pass and it's a single player game, what incentive would Striking Distance have to take resources away from bug fixes and working on the future content?

[Garethvk]

Consumer good will. The game already has enough negative publicity and now they are rewarding those who took the leap and pre-purchased or paid full retail by selling it for 30% less just a few weeks later. So when consumers in the future say new I.P. I will wait and companies like Krafton complain about not making costs or objectives they will know why.

[Tacoboto]

Outside of Call of Duty and first party exclusives, what games don't go for big sales a few weeks after release, especially at holiday time? Gotham Knights and Sonic Frontier were going for up to 50% off for black Friday and that was after Sonic being out just two weeks.

That's been a reality of gaming sales for a very long time. I'll guarantee you that Forspoken will be available for the high $30s or low $40s by or before spring sales in March. Considering reviews maybe even $34.99

[Garethvk]

Then publishers cannot blame anyone but themselves for declining sales

[EvertonFC]

I've done 3 playthroughs day1 owner of standard edition so why would I expect free dlc ? If I didn't buy the deluxe edition.
Games been great imo but then again I'm not a fanny like today's gamers.

[Garethvk]

You buy an appliance at $70.00 and less than 6 weeks later the same appliance is $49.99 or less. Wouldn't you expect a price adjustment.

[EvertonFC]

CP was £55 at launch not £70 and I assume you've lived on the moon cause most games are discounted after 4 weeks or so

[Eidolon]

That's not too bad after 6 weeks, and you get pre-order discounts. Everyone who buys new games knows the risk, that it's going to drop in price after release.

[CorndogBurglar]

No. If that were the case then why wouldn't the companies just launch at a lower price to begin with instead of having to go through all the trouble of adjusting prices for people that bought it at a higher price.

You bought the game at a certain price. Which is the standard price for new games. You aren't owed anything if the price drops later.

[FingerAction]

Until this game hits like $30 I ain't buying it.

[Eidolon]

My major complaint was the controls/clunkiness, I would not go through another playthrough, because of that probably, even later on. While even the original Dead Space, I would, but still getting through DS3 on PS3.

[EvertonFC]

If you don't like the controls you ain't gonna like Deadspace either then.
I knew as soon as gamers were moaning deadspace will get the same treatment.
Tbh I didn't find anything wrong with the controls or clunkiness of CP
Why do you play DS and not mention controls or clunkiness ? Cause there very alike in that regard.

[Eidolon]

Played Dead Space maybe 8 years ago? I don't remember it being clunky, and I cared about that back then as well, e.g. it's the only reason I could not even get 1 hr into Dead Rising around the same year, because that game was clunky af. Dead Space 3 isn't as clunky as Callisto Protocol either. I'll load up Dead Space 1 on my PS3 later to make sure.

[hotnickles]

If they did not meet expectations then freebies are the last thing you should expect. Just being real. Early adopters always get screwed it comes with the luxury.

[Garethvk]

Then a refund should be an option or at the least a price adjustment as developers cannot stick it to consumers and then cry about not making sales goals. It gives me zero incentive to buy another one of their products at or near launch again.

[hotnickles]

“ It gives me zero incentive to buy another one of their products at or near launch again.”

Indeed. Still shouldn’t expect any favors.

[Garethvk]

I dont as working with and for publishers I know how money is all that matters. It is interesting though how many on fan groups agree they should do something where on here they say no. Reddit seems divided so it is an interesting topic.

[hotnickles]

I agree with incentives 100% of the time. Realistically though, nothing is going to happen.

[IanTH]

It's the free market at work. You don't get refunds for stocks that tank the day after you buy them.

Problem also being that they can't offer adjustments indefinitely, or they'd just sell the game at launch at whatever the first sale price would be. And if they chose, say, a 6 week window where they'd price match, they'd just not put a game on sale until 6 weeks 1 day later, and people would also know not to look for a sale until then, probably effing up their metrics for interest (and extrapolations for sales estimates, etc).

Perhaps that's a good enough metric to keep you feeling your day 1 purchase was worth it, but still doesn't help someone who buys it 41 days after launch and finding it on sale a couple days after. It's pretty much always going to be a "caveat emptor" situation. If you don't like to worry about sale price, Nintendo published games are your best bet. But otherwise, the market has pretty much taught us to wait if that's a thing we care about.

[hiawa23]

I don't know, as I love the game, and also bought the season pass. I just started my 2nd playthrough, New Game Plus mode, and enjoying the game more.

[BrainSyphoned]

Fund dlc directly from the developers pay so they learn a lesson about making mediocre games?

[IanTH]

People like Bobby Kotick would absolutely LOVE ideas like this. They can force gross monetization schemes, choice of engine, amount of devs, pushing it out broken, etc, and then the DEVS would be the ones who get penalized for it? Dream come true!

If it must, how about from the shareholders or execs who get massive bonuses even when a game fails and more massive ones when they succeed? Who maybe only take home a few million instead of 10s or 100s of millions when they fail? After all, as the leaders they should shoulder the blame for failure, no?

[VanHalen]

Found it more enjoyable after the patch and tossing it on easy. If anything a bit too easy, but makes the game more fun and those graphics! Wow, some of the best I’ve seen on a console!

[HyperMoused]

dont open this basket, BF2042 will be brought up and everyone's day will be ruined

[plmkoh]

One of the most broken games on launch I've ever played. It's a real shame because the game was so good. Eventually finished the game and look forward to what they do for future titles.